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Multimodal Use
The use of multiple modes is quite commonplace in modern media practice. Each mode has something to offer in a work, and the use of multiple modes can augment a work to get to a point where it can become a new thing entirely. As video games develop, they will end up utilizing more and more of these modes, becoming more realistic with each one that has been used in the work. As the years have gone by, it has been easier to implement these modes, showing that the future of video games will be a very multimodal one. The multimodality of texts is very important in the modern day. To understand the modes and how they are used is to understand multimodality and the detail rhetoric that falls in place due to them. People must first understand each mode before they can understand the use of multiple modes. For details on the Aural and Visual Modes, see these pages. Linguistic The linguistic mode is the mode that refers to text and the specific choices and affordances that deal with it. Word choice is the name of the game when it comes to the linguistic mode. Skilled rhetors utilize carefully placed words and phrases in order to augment their arguments and strengthen their ethos. Once the rhetor establishes ethos with their words, they then get onto the main purpose of their rhetorical situation. Words have the ability to impact the other two parts of the rhetorical triangle, pathos and logos. To understand the linguistic mode, one needs to know these. The emotional appeal of words, being pathos, is used to make the audience feel a certain way about a character, event, or idea. Pathos is incredibly common in video games, as many video games have struggles dealing with ethics. Pathos and ethics play into each other very well, as the use of pathos will cause the player to feel a certain way that may vilify or call into question the ethics of the player or characters in a game. This directly influences the way that a player feels about the choices they make and the character that they are taking the role of. Words play such a large role in this, because they are the only thing that can truly convey these complex thoughts and feelings in a story. The logical appeal in rhetoric, ethos, is used in order to appeal to the intelligence of the audience in any work. The rhetor wants to use accurate, well though out information in their work in order to appeal to the audience's logos. Their words need to be well placed and well thought out. Their information needs to be accurate and properly reflecting the canon of the world that they have created. If the right word choice is used, this appeal will surely be met. Spatial Game design revolves heavily around spacing. In an artificial environment, it is important that the rhetor create a world with specific boundaries and limitations even in creating a world of high fantasy. The proper creation of space in a video game has been a long history of development, starting from the earliest 2D games to hypermodern 3D games and even the beginning of the virtual reality era of games. The space in games gives them literal and metaphorical depth as well as letting them feel like an involved experience. Game developers deal with specific engines to develop the worlds that make up their games. Game engines are the platform that the spatial mode is created through, and will continue to be so in the future. The spatial mode has plateaued in recent years, as realism has been achieved in the spatial mode. While the other modes have not reached the level of reality, technology is at the point to which spacing and overall design (sans graphics) are modern. Gestural The gestural mode is the newest mode within the genre of video games. As modern technological improvements have continued to increase the realism in games. The gestural mode as seen in video games is limited to the basic gestures and expressions that characters can make. This technology is limited, but there will be more realism as the industry develops.